Teaching is the work of mankind. The system is not built for this.
Teaching is the work of mankind. The system is not built for this.
Education is structured as a system – standardization, measurement and scaling. But learning doesn’t work properly. And teaching? Teaching is the work of human beings – building, emotional and profound personalization. This difference is not just philosophy. This is a practical daily problem for educators.
I. Education is a system. Learning and teaching are not.
This presents a challenge: when systems drive decisions, but when people do their work, friction is inevitable.
ii. The system is made of parts. People are not.
As a system, education is composed of parts that can be conceived in a number of ways. That is, they are subjective because we as individuals are subjective.
iii. Objectivity is a useful fantasy.
We can only become objective censorship when others are under intense scrutiny, and even then objectivity is temporary. Once we change from the object of research to something familiar (from one person to one person), objectivity disappears.
(For biologists, species turn into primates turn into monkeys become friends.)
iv. By losing objectivity, we gain connection.
It is through this loss that human connection is gained. It is through connection that we discover our interdependence. Through how we connect with people, space, and thoughts, we begin to understand ourselves. One shapes the other.
V. The system does not (and cannot) plan for this.
Education has no mechanism to support this process. This job belongs to the teacher. When it doesn’t happen, the bone marrow of learning disappears. It becomes a shell.
(This is when scholars change from valuable knowledge experience to mechanical processes that conceal their own wisdom.)
The system will not plan for people. They speak in code. The teacher speaks in words – the burden is quietly huge.
vi. The system cannot speak. People do this.
The system uses a binary language. People use emotions, gestures, silence and laughter. The system cannot speak to the teacher. The course cannot be talked to the community. But students, families and teachers can. They are the only real parts.
vii. Reality is the cycle of our establishment and modification.
How we see ourselves shaping how we see the world. And how we see the world shape who we think we are. We construct and together build a reality that feedbacks our identities.
(Think about how you think of yourself at 17, how you see yourself now, and what causes this change.)
viii. The teacher translates two incompatible languages.
This is a constant process of constant education, because it will never learn the language of individual students. The child of this story sits on this chair. The teacher is a translator – there are translations in humans and systems and stretches between them.
ix. System reduction. The teacher is humane.
When the system takes precedence over a person’s performance priorities, knowledge becomes a grade and a certificate. This is not malicious. This is foreseeable. The system seeks measurable and discards the rest.
X. Technology expands the system, not humans.
Edtech promises relief. But without human-centered design and communication, it simply provides vibrant energy to the system, even if every corner illuminates all efficiency and accelerates every pressure point.
The best Edtech can do – without the voices of teachers, students and families, that’s the distraction.
xi. Start with humans rather than systems.
If knowledge, wisdom, literacy, and critical thinking are still our goals, then we should not start with plans, but with people. Conditions that contribute to the emergence of these qualities in the real world. We work backwards from humanity, not from policy.
xii. Ask better questions.
What we might be worse than starting with a problem is:
If knowledge liberates the mind, once it is released, where does it go?
Then ask:
How does education make it thrive, not just function?
